2014 Belgian Grand Prix lap charts

There were contrasting fortunes for the Williams drivers in Spa, who were separated by over 45 seconds at the chequered flag.

Valtteri Bottas enjoyed a strong run to his fourth podium finish of the season. But what happened to the team’s other car?

Felipe Massa qualified ninth, three places behind his team mate, and they were still in the same positions at the end of lap one. That’s when things went wrong for Massa, following the collision between the two Mercedes drivers.

“Unfortunately at the beginning of the race I had some tyre debris stuck in the floor that came from Hamilton’s car,” he explained. “This made the car very slow, losing about two seconds per lap.”

Massa was passed by Jenson Button and Sergio Perez, and the problem didn’t get better after his first pit stop because his team hadn’t noticed what was wrong with his car.

The debris was removed when Massa came in for his second pit stop on lap 21. “After that I was nearly three seconds quicker and the fastest car on track,” said Massa, “but at this point it was too late for me to really do anything”.

If you look at the lap times charts, you’ll see what he’s talking about. After the 2nd stop, Massa was as quick as Bottas, sometimes even quicker. He’s not making excuses. Though being quick and actually overtaking are very different things.

Bottas was on the Soft compound and Massa on medium. Then when Massa switched to new softs he was of course faster than Bottas on his worn out softs. Then Bottas got fresh mediums and he was acutally faster on those than Massa on softs.

The charts merely seem to reflect tyre differences and Massa’s imagination running wild again how he could be on the podium “id only”.

Rosberg also goes 3 seconds a lap faster too when he switches from medium to soft (of course hepled by getting free air).

Compare Massa’s lap times to Sutil’s. They were driving together during the whole race. Indeed Massa was under more pressure when he was doing his stint on mediums, but the first stint not.

Seriously, the car is suddenly “2 seconds a lap slower” and he must have felt picking up the debris and still he just keeps going like that? No check for damage/debris during the first pit stop?

It’s all either incredibly unlikely or incredibly incompetent.

In reality I think it’s more likely that the lap time difference reflects that Massa was on the medium compound and Bottas on soft, combined with Massa simply being slower on race pace. Perhaps the debris added a few tenths if anything.

1: “his team hadn’t noticed what’s wrong with the car”
2a: if a black thing is stuck on the black floor or the car and you have 5 seconds to notice, well… it’s not THAT unlikely
2b: yes, it would’nt be the first time Williams is incompetent
3: Perhaps the debris added a few seconds. He was slow before and after the first stop with brand new tyres. Then second pit stop, debris gone, Massa faster. Coincidence?

Massa seems to have the cartoon raincloud following him around. Much as I’d love to see him win again, or assume the Patrese/Regazzoni role at Williams (he’s clearly popular) maybe they should get someone luckier in…

I saw the tire piece on TV and a bunch of drivers between 3rd place and 8th were able to get away from the large debris, except Massa. Lewis Hamilton and Massa must go to a voodoo doctor or something. I have never seen so many things happen to these two.